2 1/2 Nummi - Baduila Rome

Baduila — more commonly encountered in sources as Totila — seized the Ostrogothic throne in 541 after the catastrophic losses inflicted by Justinian's generals Belisarius and Narses. His decision to continue striking coinage in Rome, a city he captured in 546 and again in 549, carried explicit political weight: these small bronzes asserted Gothic legitimacy over the imperial heartland even as Byzantine forces closed in. He died at the Battle of Busta Gallorum in 552, and Gothic coinage effectively died with him.